Western economists have studied China and its economy for nearly 300 years, or about as long as there have been economists. Like other European intellectuals of the eighteenth century, economists were impressed by the scale and sophistication of things Chinese and recognised in China a different way of being civilised from the one they knew.
Europe first knew of China through its wares. The Romans called the inhabitants the ‘Seres’ because they traded in silk, and later China gave its name to another great export — china plate or porcelain. China was the source of valuable goods but the trade was conducted by intermediaries stretched along the Silk Road connecting China to Europe.
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